Long Beach resident Betty Miller, 83, sat in her home and asked the critical care nurse there if it would hurt.
“It’ll be over,” the nurse, Errol Barrientos, said, “before you know it.”
Miller and her husband, Eugene, were some of the first SCAN Health Plan members to receive their doses of the coronavirus vaccine in their own home Monday, April 26, through the not-for-profit Medicare insurance group’s homebound visits program.
Recognizing the need for outreach to members over the age of 65 who have not been inoculated who live near the health plan’s Long Beach headquarters — around 20,000 members across Los Angeles County, according to its internal data — SCAN partnered with MedArrive, a logistics platform that enables healthcare payers and providers to extend care services into the home, for the program.
“SCAN is committed to providing lifesaving COVID-19 vaccinations to all of our members, including homebound older adults,” Dr. Sachin Jain, president and CEO of SCAN Group and SCAN Health Plan, said in a statement. “We also recognize that many homebound seniors live in multifamily or multigenerational homes, so we’re vaccinating caregivers and relatives in order to extend immunity to entire households, which is a key component of keeping seniors protected against the coronavirus.”
The first group of medical teams for the program, which consist of two critical care nurses each, is able to provide around 20 visits a day, though SCAN officials expect capacity to grow next month. The program will continue to be held on Mondays and Fridays.
“I’ll give you a B+,” Miller told the EMTs after receiving her first dose. “I feel good so far.”
“Might drink a little Hennessy later,” she joked.
Before departing to their next stop, the nurses stayed with the couple for 20 minutes to monitor them in case of any adverse reactions.
“Just keep moving your shoulder and rubbing your arm,” Barrientos told Eugene. “Tomorrow, you’re likely going to feel some soreness.”
Last week, SCAN had also offered its members vaccination appointments at its Long Beach headquarters, near the Long Beach Airport, through a partnership with Ralph’s Pharmacy.
The next clinic will be held Friday, April 30.
The health plan, which has more than 220,000 members in California, will begin vaccinating homebound seniors in Orange County in May and is in discussions with county health departments to extend the vaccine program to homebound members across the state.